Sweden:
‘Inequality growing fastest in Sweden’

According to a report on inequality and poverty in OECD member countries, Sweden is the state where the gap between low and high incomes is increasing fastest.

Sweden is still one of the top 10 countries for economic equality, however, Svenska Dagbladetpoints out that —

… most Swedes have experienced an increase in their standard of living in recent decades, but the wealth gap is growing fast. […] Sweden is the country where the level of relative poverty has increased the most since 1995 [from 4 per cent of the population to 9 per cent], which is why it has slid from first place to 14th position in the rankings, although it still remains over the OECD average of (11 per cent of the population in relative poverty).

According to the newspaper, the negative change, which “began to hit home at the end of the 2000s,” mainly affects —

… the sick, the unemployed and pensioners, who are worse off today than they were in 2006. Their benefits have not increased, and, in some cases they have been reduced. At the same time, they have not gained any advantage from the tax cuts offered by the [Fredrik] Reinfeldt government.